The company that provides security to the Savannah River Site said Friday it will furlough 270 of its 706 employees at the nuclear site near Aiken.

Wackenhut Services will begin furloughing the workers this week. The process will take about a week, said spokesman Rob Davis.

The company had not been impacted by the federal government’s partial shutdown until this week, Davis said. “We still have a mission here – to protect the interests at the site – and we will continue to do that.”

The U.S. Department of Energy directed the company to limit its SRS activities only to those necessary to protect the site based on its reduced operations, said Bill Taylor with the Energy Department’s external affairs office.

No furloughs have been announced for Energy Department employees at the site, Taylor said.